


when seasons change

by spacegirlkj



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Gen, Growing Up, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 12:52:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,824
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17244548
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/spacegirlkj/pseuds/spacegirlkj
Summary: At the end of their second year, Yachi, Hinata, and Yamaguci explore the city and the possibilities for their last year together.Written for the “Birds of a Feather” fanzine.





	when seasons change

**Author's Note:**

> hey guys! heres my final fic of the year: the fic i wrote for the karasuno 1st years zine. i can proudly say this was an amazing experience!! thank you so much to everyone involved!!

    The scent of vanilla wafts through the cramped hotel bathroom Yachi finds herself in. She only ever uses this face wash on bad days, when her skin needs to be scrubbed down of the sweat, grime, and weight of the world. It makes her feel almost guilty, that today of all days is; when she needs it most. By all accounts, she should be happy; she’s in Tokyo, surrounded by the rest of Karasuno, an aura of pride lingering in the hall between rooms of boys stoked up on excitement and hope for next year’s tournament. The Spring High of her second year brought ups-and-downs and semifinal matches, brought blood, sweat and tears, stomachs hungry, hands hasty as they reached for what laid on the other side of each game. But they missed, lost their way, fell from that height onto the sweat slicked floor of a Tokyo gymnasium. Barely, though, but no one remembers the barelies, the could-have-beens, the almost was and the good fight. They remember watching the winners taste sweet victory, remember the tears of joy, not of sadness. It’s an accomplishment by any means, to have made it this far, but Karasuno is nothing if not hungry for more than the stage they were left on. It just so happened that this hunger has rubbed off onto Yachi, too.

Her plan for the night consists of calling Kiyoko and maybe finishing the homework she’s regrettably left until today. It’s as she splashes water on her face that it changes, a loud knock on her room’s door, drawing her out of her daze and back into the real world. It’s a rush to dart to the door before whoever is there leaves, one that has her forgetting that her hair is pulled back in two messy braids and that her face is flushed from being washed.

Waiting at the door are Yamaguchi and Hinata, smiles wide and wider. “We’re going out to get food,” Hinata says, giving her no time to ask what they’re doing in front of her hotel room at six in the evening. “I’m _starving_ and Yamaguchi wants to explore, _and_ it’s our last day in Tokyo, so we thought you might wanna come!”

    Yachi’s still getting used to this, this _kindness_ , this inclusion that everyone on the team radiates. It’s especially strong between their year, and even more so between the three of them. Yachi doesn’t even have to question why they came to her. It’s an understanding that they’d never want to leave her out, that it was always their plan to knock on her door and invite her along.

    And so they go, Yachi taking five minutes to change into a red checkered dress and grab a coat, and to throw her camera, wallet, and phone into her purse, the boys waiting for her by the door.  The sun has just begun to set, lighting their way as they follow googled directions to the nearest streetcar. Yachi’s familiarity with public transit outscores the others by sole virtue of having gone on business trips with her mother before she was old enough to stay home alone. It’s not seamless, because Hinata drops his change in the middle of the sidewalk and is left ot pick it up himself, Yachi and Yamaguchi being no help between their useless worrying and snickers, respectively.  In the streetcar, they’re pressed together, shoulder to shoulder, hip to hip, the busy city goers and work to home commuters standing silently all around them.

    “I wonder if it’s a rule to frown on public transport,” Hinata wonders, a little too loudly for the poised silence of the streetcar. He forces his face into a pout and attempts to straighten himself like the business people all around them in vain— his bright hair and exuberance win out, leading him to break into giggles. “Tsukishima and Kageyama would’ve been good at this.”

    “Hinata!” Yamaguchi hisses through his own laughter, almost doubled over. Their joy warms Yachi, pastes a smile on her face that doesn’t quite extend to the knot in her throat or the ten thousand butterflies in her chest. They earn a few looks from adults with just enough life left in them to smile and a few others who lack the energy and scoff, but no one stays on the train car long enough to truly care.

    They jump off, too, when the streets become alive with neon glowing signs and laughing faces. Hinata presses his cheek to the glass and begs to leave, drags both Yachi and Yamaguchi off of the car and into the streets of Tokyo. People pass in different states of dress, some going home and others going out, and others more simply walking to and fro unknown destinations. She pries her eyes from the map on her phone to pay attention to the way Yamaguchi and Hinata trade stories and jokes as if there isn’t anything in the world weighing them down.

    _Maybe there isn’t,_ Yachi thinks to herself. _Maybe I’m just imagining things._

They end up in a hole-in-the-wall place with a menu advertising big portions for a small price— a jackpot for three teenagers with eyes bigger than their stomachs and pockets too light to justify any higher fare. They shuffle into a corner booth with a cockeyed table that shifts when they plant their elbows onto it, sparking a game of trying not to let the utensils slide off and hit the floor. They have nothing to hurry for, but the food comes in the middle of their convenseration, leaving Yachi to watch, with a spark of amusement that begins to wash away her fears, as Hinata and Yamaguchi continue speaking with mouths filled to the brim.

    They’re _happy,_ and maybe it’s because they already had time for the tears of disappointment to fall the night before, or maybe Hinata’s reckless optimism has infected Yamaguchi too. Yachi can’t be sure of much besides the way their smiles and the warmth of good food makes her feel— safe, and at home.

    There’s a little panic from Yachi and Yamaguchi about splitting the bill, and after they've had their fill of noodles and complementary soft drinks, the three are free to leave, meeting the crisp air with smiles and full bellies. The streetlamps illuminate the roads even as the evening dwindles, leaving the three lazy in their meandering back to the hotel. The streets of this corner of Tokyo seem much less terrifying now, every corner containing a new sight to see, every storefront a window to ogle through. The lack of wind creates an illusion of warmth in the cold heart of January, leaving their cheeks flushed and spirits encouraged. Chatter flows freely and even Yachi’s voice carries as they wander around street corners on their way back, stopping to entice alley cats with pets and chase birds with open hands, laughter flowing as easy as she’s come to expect.

    They find themselves at a park three blocks down from where they’re staying, swings blowing gently in the wind. Yachi sits on an empty swing, Hinata dashing to claim the empty one beside her, swinging back and forth as Yamaguchi jumps to sit on one of the bars, a momentary lapse in conversation breeding silence taken over by the creak of the swings chains.

    You can tell many things about a person, Yachi learns, by how they stand. Where a little more than a year ago, Yamaguchi would’ve blended into the painted metal that holds up the swings chains, now he kicks his feet and smiles, idle, watching, eyes like a clock as they follow Hinata’s movements back and forth. None of it is an afterthought, and there’s purpose to how he kicks his feet to catch the chains and slow Hinata down. It earns him a laugh from Hinata that sounds more like a shout, carried through the evening air, he reaches higher and higher, up towards the twilight sky.

    Tomorrow, their season of volleyball ends. The illusion will be broken, and they’ll find themselves in the bus, driving back to Miyagi with willpower resting heavy in their bones, a renewed desire to climb higher fueling the flame everburning beneath them. For them, the second year will inch to a close, leaving them with a finite number of days, practices, games, and tournaments before they go their separate ways.

    “Yachi?” Yamaguchi says, pulling her from her thoughts. “Is–— is something wrong?”

    Yachi blinks, feeling a tear slip down her cheek. “I— oh, I was just…” She swallows the knot in her throat, paying no mind to the tear tracking down her chin. “Are you— are you guys, ah, nervous? About–— about being a third year, and captain, and… and things changing.”

    Yamaguchi mulls over his words, Hinata still swinging higher and higher between them. Yachi is just about to call it all off when Hinata _jumps,_ soaring through the sky with a gleeful grin before landing down in the sand. Both Yamaguchi and Yachi freeze as he turns back to them, smile wide and welcoming as he dusts off his hands.

    “We’re always changing,” he tells her, meeting Yachi’s eyes as the wind whips through his hair. “I think I’d be more worried if it all stopped, y’know?”  
    “It makes sense,” Yamaguchi says, and both of their heads turn to look at him as he speaks. “That you’re worried. I mean, I am too!” He rubs the back of his neck nervously, legs dangling as he sighs. “But I’ve tried letting that hold me back, and it isn’t any use.”

    “Why hold back when you’re, like, _super_ -duper awesome!” Hinata exclaims, throwing out his arms. “Both of you!”

    Yachi thinks about Hinata— thinks about arms that have grown strong enough to smash and to carry, thinks about Yamaguchi, eyes that have grown sharper and retained the kind of kindness she’s come to rely on. She thinks; _there’s no one I’d rather rely on than the two of you._

    Unknowingly, she says it aloud, and the pair smile.

    “Well, it goes for you too,” Yamaguchi says. His smile is infectious, and even with the droplets of tears collecting in her eyes, Yachi finds her lips being pulled upwards as HInata steps forwards and rests an elbow on her shoulder.

    “We’re a team, after all,” he tells her. “And you’re a part of it!”

    Yachi swells— with pride, with glee, with hope— as a few more tears leak from her eyes. She’s quick to wipe them away, nodding as Yamaguchi hops down and approaches her with all of the strength and poise of a captain-to-be. They’ll leave this park as second years still, but there’s a line they cross somewhere along the way, between the hotel and the bus in the morning, between the cityscape of Tokyo and the countryside of Miyagi. There’s a difference made, an understanding— nothing has changed, because nothing will stay the same.

   

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> come find me on twitter, @lesbianiwaizumi ! have a happy new year!!


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